This invention relates in general to fishing lures and deals more particularly with a novel method of making a lure blade and also to a blade that is made according to such method.
It has been found that an artificial fishing lure which includes a skirted jig and a blade having a specially constructed tab or kicker is particularly successful in attracting fish. The kicker is formed by a folded over flap on one end of the blade and an adjacent bent lip that projects at an angle from the opposite side of the blade. The special kicker provides the blade with the action either of a buzz bait or a spinner bait, depending upon whether the lure travels on or below the surface of the water. The lure is also normally equipped with a clapper that provides the rhythmical sounds of a crank bait. When the blade travels along the surface of the water, the kicker flap creates a gurgling type action of the water having the effect of a buzzer bait. When the lure is below water surface, the blade spins in the manner of a spinner type bait.
In order for the buzzing action to properly take place and to be effective in attracting fish, the lip of the kicker must have a size and angle that are carefully controlled within close tolerances. Close tolerances are also required for the size of the flap and the dimension of the gap between its tip and the concave side of the blade. This type of blade has been bent by hand in order to form the kicker, but this has not been satisfactory because the dimensions and angles of the kicker are not consistent due to human error and the inability of human crimping operations to be made with the requisite accuracy. As a consequence, blades that are bent manually are often unable to exhibit the properties that make them attractive to fish, and the effectiveness of the lure suffers accordingly.
The present invention is directed to a method by which a blade body may be bent accurately and repeatedly such that the special kicker is bent in exactly the right places and at exactly the right angles to provide the blade with the desired action in the water. The method includes the use of special tools which assure precision and repeatability in the angles and locations of the bends, thus eliminating the inaccuracies and inconsistencies that are prevalent in manual bending operations. The invention is also directed to a fishing lure blade that is constructed according to the unique method.
In accordance with the invention, a blade body is formed from a coiled strip of anodized aluminum by using a punch press to stamp an oval blade body from the strip, bend the blade body into a concavo-convex shape, and form a slit through the blade body all in one operation. Next, one end of the blade body is inserted into a groove in a special tool, and the blade body is bent to form a flap which is bent along a bend line that has its location determined by the depth of the groove. The blade body is then removed from the tool and the bend is completed by pressing the flap toward the blade body such that it is folded completely over.
The blade is then applied to a second tool having a slot formed between a pair of blocks that are relatively movable toward and away from one another. The bent or doubled over end is inserted into the slot, and the blocks are then closed to clamp the bent end of the blade between them. The blade body is bent until it is against an inclined surface of the tool that is oriented at a 45.degree. angle. This forms a doubled over kicker lip which is oriented at precisely 45.degree. to the blade body and which is controlled in its size by the depth of the slot.
Finally, the blade is removed from the tool and the tongue is pressed against a flat surface until the side edges of the blade body bottom out on the flat surface. This accurately locates the curved tip of the flap away from the concave side of the blade far enough to provide the proper gap that provides the buzz bait action when the blade is drawn along or near the surface of the water.